Bringing the crack since December 2003

Why the DCnU is a bad idea (the millionth post on this)

I made the following post on Facebook which started a debate about how Marvel is just as bad as DC.

“I have a radical idea for DC. Instead of rewriting history every 3 years why not try putting out good stories and stop screwing with your characters??? No wonder Marvel is kicking your asses”.

A commenter brought up "Brand New Day" and "Shadowland" as examples of how Marvel is just as bad as DC and all their retcons.

Personally I have not bought a single Spider-Man comic since the Mephisto Divorce so you know where I stand on that. And yes, Shadowland was terrible, but it wasn't a reboot or retcon. It was just a BAD storyline.

Spider-Man aside Marvel hasn't really done the "rewrite their entire history thing" that DC has gotten addicted to since the first Crisis. They say it's an attempt to appeal to more people, but I have yet to speak to anyone who thinks this is a good idea. Their love of the reset button has made it so that no one can explain to me (or anyone else for that matter) what the fuck is going on with the Legion of Super Heroes, Hawkman or Donna Troy.

Not to mention their monkeying with continuity is going to invalidate the Classic Wolfman-Perez Teen Titans of the 80's just so that they can have a token person of color as part of the Justice League's Big 7.

You don't see Marvel trying to wipe out the Claremont-Byrne X-Men run. Bringing back Jean Grey was controversial, but it didn't undo all the stories that led up to it.

Heroes Reborn was brought up as an example of a Marvel retcon, to which I replied:

"I have no interest in being a Marvel shill because they do plenty I don't agree with. I hated Heroes Reborn, but to me it was different. They took 4 titles (that weren't selling) and farmed them out to (at the time) hot creators for a year, putting them in a "pocket dimension". Then they brought them back to the regular continuity. They had a built in out if it sucked and they used it.

Post Flashpoint DC is pretty much screwing with everything in their universe that isn't Bat or GL related *and* they do it all the damn time (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Flashpoint) *and* if DCNU tanks (and it will) then they have to alter reality AGAIN to undo it (and they will). To me that's a HUGE difference".

A large part of DC’s problem is that they insist on trying to make cosmic characters more relatable thinking this will make them more popular. People identify with Batman and he's popular. A lot of it is fantastical but you could train real hard and kick criminal’s asses.

You’re never going to have a freak accident give you super powers and you weren’t born a Mutant either, but Marvel built in reasons to identify with their characters. Most of their characters are flawed ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances (everyone who’s not a mutant) or born different and hated for it (Mutants). These are things anyone can identify with.

You’re never going to be from Krypton, become an inter-galactic policeman or an Amazonian Princess. And that’s fine, but trying to make them more “down to earth” or “realistic” is idiotic.

DC wants you to identify with an alien and their grand plan to do that is to make him more alien and isolated from humanity. Superman works because while we’ll never be him, we can aspire to be like him and do great things. He is not like us but he embodies the best of us. Making him more alien and trying to make him more “realistic” is completely missing the fucking point.

To me if you want to try and boost sales then allow your writers to do something fresh and new. Hitting the reset button over and over again is just lazy *and* it doesn't work.

You’re never going to be from Krypton, become an inter-galactic policeman or an Amazonian Princess. And that’s fine, but trying to make them more “down to earth” or “realistic” is idiotic.

DC wants you to identify with an alien and their grand plan to do that is to make him more alien and isolated from humanity. Superman works because while we’ll never be him, we can aspire to be like him and do great things. He is not like us but he embodies the best of us. Making him more alien and trying to make him more “realistic” is completely missing the fucking point.

THIS! Arrrgh, I really hate how DC seems convinced that to be relatable a character has to be 'realistic.' Relatability just means that you can understand and believe in the motivations, emotions and actions of a character, not because they have relationship problems or whatever.

That, more than anything, is what upsets me about the reboot. Making Superman broody and isolated doesn't make him more relatable, it makes him less relatable. It's hard to sympathize with the most powerful being on the planet being moody - it's like a rich guy complaining about paying taxes. And I cannot ever believe that someone raised on Earth by loving parents would identify strongly with a culture that they have no direct experience with.

If Superman feels isolated and disconnected from humanity, it's harder to believe that he'd even become a superhero - Superman likes people, he feels an obligation to protect and help them because that's what good people do. What's his motivation if he doesn't identify as a human? Again - this attempt to make him relatable doesn't do that. It makes him...confused. His motivations don't fit with his actions.

There are a lot of reasons why Superman titles aren't selling well (and haven't been for awhile) but I doubt being unrealistic is one of them. :/

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